TULIA - John Martinez is a raw talent, or so Tulia coach Randy Scott believes.

After Friday night's 28-14 season-opening victory over the Olton Mustangs in which Martinez played a hand in every point the Hornets scored (he even kicked the extra points), Scott has proof to back up his convictions.

Martinez scored three of the Hornets' four touchdowns and was involved in virtually every big offensive play Tulia put together.

It was a spectacular showing for the sophomore's first-ever varsity start, though Martinez deflected any praise directed his way, quickly giving all the credit away.

"I feel great," Martinez said, "but it was team effort. I couldn't have done it without the guys."

Martinez admitted he was nervous heading into Friday night, but those quickly dissipated.

"Once the game started it got better and better, and I got used to it," he said.

It was good Martinez settled in early as the Mustangs struck first only five minutes into the game. But after going up 7-0, Olton started to struggle and shot itself in the foot on multiple occasions, turning the ball over three times and committing costly penalties.

"We didn't do the . . . things we talked about," Olton coach Joel Baker said, alluding to the Mustangs' Week 0 goals. "We turned the ball over, missed some tackles on a critical play . . . The roughing the punter penalty was huge. We were fixing to turn the tide of the game, take the game over in the first quarter, and we rough the punter. It just totally changed the momentum."

That penalty eventually resulted in Martinez scoring on a 58-yard run to tie the game, and Tulia scoring 22 unanswered points to take control.

And while Martinez flourished, Olton senior quarterback Tommy Guerrero struggled. Guerrero was responsible for all three turnovers, throwing two interceptions and fumbling on a momentum-killing play on which he fumbled at the Tulia 1-yard line. As Guerrero stretched for the goal line, the ball came out and rolled through the end zone and out of bounds for a touchback.

Guerrero did score both of Tulia's touchdowns on short quarterback draws and had moderate success with screen and short-distance passes.

Baker wasn't completely distraught by his team's performance.

"We've got things to be proud of. It wasn't all bad," Baker said. "We dominated the first quarter and third quarter. We just couldn't get it going again in the fourth."

By the time Guerrero punched it in from a yard out to pull Olton within one score, only 4:35 was left on the clock. Tulia then took 4:32 to score the final points of the night and clinch the win.

The Hornets will try for two in a row this coming Friday at New Deal, which edged out Clarendon 29-28 in Week 0. Olton next hosts Farwell, which beat Morton 33-27, in its home opener Friday.